How to free up Google storage without paying for Google One

To free up Google storage without paying, work through the three services that share your 15 GB: in Gmail, search larger:10M and delete old attachments and promotional mail; in Google Drive, sort by storage used and remove forgotten large files; in Google Photos, empty the trash, clear duplicates, remove large videos and screenshots, and consider converting Original quality photos to Storage saver. Empty each service's trash at the end, because trashed items still count until then. For most accounts that is enough to get back several gigabytes and buy another year or two before a paid plan becomes necessary.

How Google storage actually works

The 15 GB that comes free with a Google account is one pool shared by Gmail, Google Drive and Google Photos. A full account is a full account regardless of which service filled it, so the first job is finding out which one did.

Go to one.google.com/storage. The page shows a bar split into Gmail, Drive and Photos. Whichever slice is biggest is where to start. It is common for Photos to be two-thirds of the total and Gmail most of the rest.

A few things that do not count:

• Files other people shared with you in Drive. Only files you own count against your storage.
• Google Docs, Sheets and Slides created after mid-2021 do count, but they are usually tiny.
• Photos a partner shares with you through partner sharing. Those count against their storage.

And one thing people forget: items in the trash of any of the three services still count toward storage until the trash is emptied. Each trash keeps items for 30 days, then clears itself.

Gmail

Email is small; attachments are not. An old account often holds a few gigabytes of PDFs, photos and videos sent years ago.

1. In the Gmail search box, type larger:10M and press Enter. This lists every email with more than 10 MB of attachments. Try larger:5M for a longer list.
2. Sort through them. Anything you still need, download the attachment to Drive or your computer first.
3. Select the rest and delete.
4. Search category:promotions and delete in bulk. Promotional mail is small individually but there can be tens of thousands of messages. The same goes for category:social and category:updates.
5. Search in:spam and delete everything. Spam is cleared automatically after 30 days, but it counts until then.
6. Open Trash and click "Empty Trash now".

Mail you delete goes to Gmail's trash for 30 days, so there is time to change your mind. The guide on Gmail storage full because of photos covers what happens to incoming mail when you are over the limit.

Google Drive

Drive tends to hold a few very large files rather than many small ones: a video someone sent, an old phone backup, an installer, a zip of a project.

1. Open drive.google.com/drive/quota, or go to Storage in the left-hand menu. Files are listed largest first.
2. Work down from the top. Download anything you want to keep elsewhere.
3. Right-click and move the rest to the trash.
4. Check Backups in the left-hand menu for old phone and WhatsApp backups you no longer need.
5. Open Trash and empty it.

Files in "Shared with me" are not yours and do not count, so there is no point removing them. If you own a large file that is shared with others, trashing it removes it for them as well.

Google Photos

Photos is usually where the bulk of the space is, and also where the most reversible wins are.

Empty the trash

Library, then Trash, then Empty trash. Have a look first; this is the one permanent step. If you have deleted anything in the last month, this alone may return a good chunk.

Clear duplicate photos

Most long-running libraries have a layer of duplicates: the same photo backed up from two apps, bursts of near-identical frames, edits saved as new files, copies re-saved from chats. Google Photos has no duplicate finder, so you either find them by hand on a computer (search a date, select the copies, trash them) or use a tool.

Doppelgone is a free Chrome extension that scans your library on photos.google.com, groups exact duplicates, similar shots and bursts, keeps the best of each set, and moves the rest to the trash once you approve. Nothing is deleted outright, there is a one-click undo, and favourites, videos, motion photos and shared photos are never touched. Your photos never leave your device. In our testing on a real library of about 15,000 photos, Doppelgone found roughly 4 GB of duplicates. Full steps in how to delete duplicate photos in Google Photos.

Large videos

Settings, then Manage storage, then Review and delete, then Large photos and videos. The list is sorted by size. A handful of long videos can outweigh a thousand photos, so this is often the fastest single win per minute spent. Download the keepers to a computer first.

Screenshots and blurry photos

The same Review and delete page lists screenshots and blurry photos. Both are low-value and accumulate quietly. Review in batches and trash freely.

Convert to Storage saver

If your photos were backed up in Original quality, the Manage storage page offers a "Recover storage" option that compresses everything already uploaded to Storage saver quality, and the backup setting can be changed so that future uploads are compressed too. Storage saver photos are reduced to 16 megapixels and videos to 1080p; for screens and normal prints the difference is hard to see. It cannot be undone, so read Storage saver vs Original quality first. Since 1 June 2021, Storage saver photos count toward your storage, but they count for a lot less than originals.

Then empty the trash again

Everything you have just removed is sitting in the trash. Once you are comfortable, empty it to actually see the storage figure drop.

What gets space back fastest

Rough guidance, in order of space returned per minute spent. Every account is different.

Action	Service	Time	What it often returns
Empty all three trashes	All	2 minutes	Whatever you deleted in the last 30 days; can be several GB
Trash the top ten largest videos	Photos	10 minutes	Often 1 to 5 GB
Delete emails larger than 10 MB	Gmail	15 minutes	Often 1 to 3 GB on an older account
Clear duplicates with a tool	Photos	20 to 30 minutes, mostly waiting	Can be several GB on a large library
Trash large Drive files and old backups	Drive	10 minutes	Varies; can be large if there are videos or phone backups
Convert to Storage saver	Photos	5 minutes plus processing time	Can roughly halve the size of Original quality photos
Delete promotions and social mail	Gmail	5 minutes	Usually hundreds of MB
Review screenshots	Photos	15 minutes	Usually hundreds of MB

If you only have ten minutes, empty the trashes and remove the largest videos. If you have an hour, do the list in order.

There is a numbered version of this list with more detail in Google One 15 GB full: 9 ways to get space back.

What not to do

• Do not delete photos from your phone to free Google storage. The "Free up space" button in the Google Photos app removes local copies that are already backed up; the cloud figure does not change.
• Do not empty a trash without looking. It is the only step here you cannot undo.
• Do not convert to Storage saver if you print large, shoot RAW, or edit seriously. It is permanent.
• Do not trash files in Drive that other people depend on without telling them.
• Do not forget archived photos. They are hidden from the main grid but still count.

When paying is actually the right call

Avoiding a subscription is a reasonable goal, but there are situations where the paid plan is the honest answer.

• You have cleaned up and you are still within a gigabyte or two of the limit. You will be back here in three months.
• You shoot a lot of video. Video does not dedupe, does not compress much further, and grows every month.
• You share one account across a family. Several phones backing up to 15 GB is not sustainable.
• You want Original quality and you print or edit. Storage saver is off the table, and originals are large.
• Your time is worth more than the monthly cost. An hour of sorting every quarter adds up.

Google One plans start at 100 GB, and at the time of writing the smallest plan is priced like a cup of coffee a month. If you go that route, do the clean-up first anyway, so you buy the smallest plan that leaves comfortable headroom rather than paying to store duplicates.

Frequently asked questions

Does deleting emails free up Google storage?

Yes, as long as you also empty the Gmail trash. Deleted mail sits in the trash for 30 days and counts until then. The biggest gains come from emails with large attachments, which you can find by searching larger:10M.

Do shared files in Google Drive count against my storage?

No. Files in "Shared with me" count against the owner's storage, not yours. Only files you own count, including files you have shared with others.

How long until the storage figure updates after I delete things?

Usually a few minutes after you empty the trash, though it can occasionally take longer. If the figure has not moved after emptying all three trashes, sign out and back in, or check again later.

Is it worth deleting duplicate photos, or are they small?

They add up. A duplicate is the same size as the original, so a library with a few thousand copies can hold several gigabytes of pure repetition. Because they are copies, removing them loses nothing, which makes them the safest thing in the library to clear.

What to do next

Open your Google One storage page, see which service is biggest, and start there. If Photos is the problem and duplicates are part of it, the Doppelgone extension is free for unlimited scans and 200 clean-ups, with Pro as a one-time payment if you need more.